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Under the slogan “Meet the PV Market!” the event organized under the auspices of RPIA – Romanian Photovoltaic Industry Association, by Govnet Conferences, has brought together the most important players that are active in the solar market, also companies from complementary spheres and authorities alike.

The Summit has tested the current status of the Romanian photovoltaic market, the discussions reaching topics of great importance for all the factors involved in the development of these projects, from which can be mentioned also the information regarding the feed-in tariff dedicated to the photovoltaic plants that are under 1 MW, which is considered essential for development in this area.

After several postponing, the decision of the National Agency for Energy Regulation – ANRE regarding the introduction of the Feed-in tariff for installations bellow 1 MW as an alternative to the current supporting scheme that includes green certificates, could arise in short time.

The Feed-in tariff could be between 186-200 Euro/MW (according to an unofficial calculation), and starting with 2014, the new taxation of 1.5% will be applied to the photovoltaic projects also, as these are being considered special constructions.

Zsoltan Nagy, member of the ANRE board, has declared that after the previous discussions regarding the feed-in tariff, he hopes that the long-waited decision to be taken until the end of November 2013. It is possible that the value of this rate to overcome the cumulated value of three green certificates to which is being added the price of the energy. Thus, once the feed-in tariff is regulated, the beneficiaries could obtain for each Megawatt over 186 euros. Although, until the actual entry into force, several months will pass, Nagy estimating that the necessary approval, coming from the European Commission, could come only in March-April 2014.

Besides this good news, that it is expected will spur the development of the photovoltaic sector, especially in the area of rooftop solar installations, a less good news has come from the Ministry of Finance. According to Remus Vulpescu, Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Finance, the new taxation of 1.5% for special construction will enter into force starting with 2014 and will affect photovoltaic plants also.

During the Summit, there have been brought into discussion the current challenges that the photovoltaic sector is facing, tax and legislative issues, solutions to the funding issue that most developers encounter, but also the opportunities that Romania has to offer.